Monday, December 20, 2004

Who waits in a line in Vegas? Not me!

When I got to Mitchell Field on Tuesday morning, right away I knew things were going to be different. I walked on into the airport, checked myself in using the electronic kiosk (one of the best inventions known to man) and went up to the terminal. The airport was quite dead. More amazing was that there was no line at the security checkpoint. Not a single person waiting. Now I have flown on Midwest a dozen times and have never walked on through like I did last week. It was also nice to see that they had expanded the area so they would have been able to accommodate a crowd much better than they have in the past.

Even the terminal was quiet. Not many flights leaving today apparently, except for the one going to Canada but that doesn't count because these people looked like it wasn't a permanent trip. In other words they looked sane. I had to kill an hour at the airport so it was nice to see I had a small radio in my carryon bag. I listed to Bob and Brian for a bit but also scanned the stations to hear something interesting. For 30 minutes, I listened to Divorce Court. Yes, the TV show. Some pathetic lady got married to a loser just so she could get laid. I had to fight from laughing out loud. The only other thing I noticed was that I might have been the youngest person on that plane. It was like a senior citizen center on that plane! I was afraid the snack was going to be Metamucil! I was happy to see the pretzels come out. With a good book to read, the flight zinged on by. We landed and I grabbed my bag from the overhead compartment and I was off.

I was shocked to walk right out the airport and not have to wait for a taxi either. Walked straight into one. This is getting better. I was staying at Harrahs this trip. I actually had to wait about 10 minutes to check in. Wow, an actual wait. Nice enough rooms at Harrahs. I think my bathroom may have been possessed. The light came on with a lot of flickering and noise. Except for a couple of minutes of sleep each night, I wasn't going to be in this room that long.

Went downstairs and immediately place Brian's $10 bet on red at the roulette table. Up came a black 2 and that cash was gone. I left Harrah as I wanted to go on down to the Bellagio to see the World Poker tour event that was going on. As I walked down the street, I decided to stop into the Barbary Coast and see if they have any double deck blackjack going on. I stepped up to a table and played for about a half hour. These dealers sucked. Plus, I tried to order a beer and they wouldn't give me a bottle. I asked for a Heineken and the lady said they don't have it. Bullshit! I later find out that they do not comp players bottled beer. Only taps. What a cheap freakin place. Up 10 bones and sick of the crappy dealers (the two didn't have a personality between them). Went over to the Bellagio from there. The Christmas display they have was quite nice. But I busy geeking out from watching the poker players. It was weird to walk around seeing these guy doing their thing. I had arrived during a break so a number of them were walking around talking to their friends. Once play got going again, a crowd formed around the perimeter to watch. I wandered around seeing who I might recognize but got bored with it. I would rather play. The list at the Bellagio was about 20 long so I decided to head on down to the Monte Carlo.

Along the way I was accosted by the usual number of porn distributors. Though the weather was rather cool, they still were out smacking the porn cards and trying to get them into your hands. I played some poker there (left up $80) before heading on down to Mandalay Bay to play in a tournament. Kinda nice to earn the $60 entry. Did ok at the Bay but ended up in 9th. No money there. So what is there to do? Play craps at the Luxor.

That was a mistake. The table was really cold. Then half the people left. I should have been one of those people. But noooooo. I wanted to roll the bones some more. The guy from Cleveland on my right couldn't hit a number to save his life. Worst yet, he was a sore loser. Whined about it. If you can't afford it, then step away dude. But I rolled pretty well. On separate occasions, I must have tossed the dice at least a dozen times, hitting some numbers and making myself a tidy profit. However, that profit went back to the house with the other clowns throwing.

Down and disappointed I figured I could toss the rest of my buyin into a slot machine and have some fun. I took my $41 that was left and walked around. I stopped at a quarter machine and plunked the 40 bucks in. The first machine seemed too tight for my taste. As I sat there punching the button, I feel inspired when I looked over at a Boot Scootin' machine. The thoughts of Kim and Heather playing that damn country music at the bar came into my noggin. It was a sign! So I took the $30 that was left and put it into that machine. Within the first couple of pulls, I hit for 100. Then a couple later, I hit the bonus round and was spinning the wheel. That was good for another 200. I cashed on out at $91. That felt better. Even cleaned the hopper out forcing them to fill the machine back up.

So I walked on back up the Strip. Went back to Harrahs and decided to check out their poker room. That was a mistake as well as I lost my focus and dropped a hundred there on a bad play. Seeing that it was now about 2:30, I decided to call it a day. I had a good time on the first day. The only problem I had was finding a good drink. I drank beer all day because every time I tried to order a Makers and ginger (Makers Mark bourbon and ginger ale), no one had Makers Mark. I was in shock. Everywhere I had gone, they didn't have Makers. Ugh. At least I felt happy knowing that Big Elvis is still performing at the Barbary Coast. At least that hasn't changed.